You’re nearing the end of the quarter and your pipe isn’t looking as healthy as you’d like. Every business, even the most successful, has been there before and they’ll probably be there again. With so much noise and competition, more expensive but less effective pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and a cautious market, generating revenue is tough.
But it’s not impossible. There are plenty of marketers who have experienced that stressful lack-of-leads moment and turned it all around just in time — and many of them are willing to share their tips and tricks.
In this article, we look at the various revenue streams worth exploring, and the exact strategies leaders in sales and marketing employ to generate more revenue.
Examples of revenue streams
New leads are always an important part of the total revenue equation, and most businesses have a hungry pipe that needs a constant drip of quality leads to nurture and convert. But when you have revenue goals to reach, your existing customers.
Here are some of the revenue streams to consider:
New customers
Renewal revenue from retained customers
Cross-sell revenue from existing customers using new features
Expansion or upsell revenue
Service fees for white glove support or setup services
Partners and affiliates
As you can see, there are several places to look for revenue — and a healthy business is focused not just on the revenue generated from new leads, but on generating more revenue from existing customers, too.
9 expert tips for generating revenue
We asked experts in sales and marketing to share tips for generating revenue when you need to make your numbers.
Tip #1: Lean on smart tools to find new leads
If leads are lagging, turn to smart tools, says Luke Miler, founder of software engineering subscription service DCNY.
"Sales teams have so many incredible tools at their fingertips — the hard part is finding the right tool for the right job. I'm involved in several B2B and SaaS companies and use different tools for different lead types."
Here's some of what's inside Luke's not-so-secret toolbox:
Cold outreach: Services like LeadBird generate relevant leads and help you with cold outreach. Other services, like Telescope use AI to generate a list of leads and as you accept or reject, the algorithm learns and adapts.
Warm-ish outreach: Use RB2B to identify 20-30% of US website visitors and get their LinkedIn information sent to you via Slack for direct outreach.
Social listening: Social platforms can be a goldmine for in-market leads, but searching for them manually can take hours. Tools like PitchGhost and lightscope (in beta) do the work for you, sending notifications any time a high-quality prospect talks about your category.
Tip #2: Implement a referral program
Your best customers are also your most valuable advocates. Social proof and word of mouth are some of the most powerful lead generation tools you have, but you shouldn’t expect your customers to proactively promote your business.
Jeffrey Zhou, CEO and Founder of Fig Loans recommends implementing a referral program to encourage your satisfied customers to bring in new clients. “A simple referral reward, like a discount or a small gift card, can motivate your customers to spread the word to friends, colleagues, or family members.”
“To make the referral program successful, ensure a seamless, easy-to-share experience. Customers must find the program easy to understand and participate in. Use multiple touchpoints like email, in-app messages, and social media to inform them about the program and to create interest. Offering tiered rewards or double-sided incentives (rewards for both referrer and referee) can also motivate more participation. For example, giving both the referrer and the new customer a discount creates a win-win situation.
To measure the campaign's success, track metrics like referral conversion rate, cost per acquisition, and customer lifetime value. These metrics can also help you adjust your strategies as needed.
Tip #3: Focus on expansion
It is easier to convince a paying customer who has already seen the value of your product or service to expand than it is to prove your worth to a net new lead. Doing this right does take a bit of strategy, but once you find the right customers and crack the code on your expansion tools, it can become a great source of growth.
In a recent LinkedIn post, Paul Stansik, Partner at ParkerGale Capital, said an ‘expansion blitz’ was one of his go-to strategies after a soft month.
“Software companies are bad at asking "what else can we do for you?" So pull a customer list of who uses what. Cross off the customers who need to be left alone. Focus on the ones with whitespace. The ones who you think could be doing more with you. Then give the sales team a couple of talk-tracks for how to ask what else they're focused on.”
Tip #4: Revisit warm leads
Most sales teams have a pool of marketing qualified leads (MQLs) who have been sitting somewhere in the pipe, interested and occasionally engaged, but never quite converting.
Teresha Aird, co-founder and CMO of B2B commercial property brokerage, Offices.net, says revisiting these warm leads can be a great place to start generating more revenue in a slow month. “Warm leads are much easier to re-engage than cold ones. Reach out with personalized emails that aim to address their pain points or share some of your updated content or new data that’s relevant to their needs. A quick follow-up call or targeted LinkedIn message can help reignite their interest. We’ve found that offering a time-sensitive incentive – like a limited-time discount or a free consultation – can also help nudge these leads towards conversion.”
This works best when your leads really are warm — in other words, you have stayed top of mind with regular check-ins. Don’t underestimate the power of a social presence here, either. By following your leads, interacting with content from industry experts, and creating your own content, you can stay top of mind with a large pool of leads. This post from Ryan Jensen about signing with revenue intelligence platform Gong is a great example of just how powerful that can be.
Tip #5: Chase fast
In this blog, Dave Kellogg, advisor, director, consultant, angel investor, and blogger focused on enterprise software startups, advises teams to look for deals that are going to move the fastest.
“Remember that a nine-month sales cycle is an average; some opportunities (oppties) close a lot faster. Expansion oppties tend to move a lot faster than new logo oppties. SMB oppties tend to move faster than enterprise ones. Get salesops to figure out which ones move faster for you — remember you don’t need just any pipeline, you need fast-moving (and high-converting) pipeline.”
Once you’ve done that, he says, “start forecasting next-quarter’s day-one pipeline as of about week 3 of the current quarter, so we can increase our lead time on finding out about these problems next time.”
The whole blog, titled What To Do When You Need Pipeline in a Hurry, is worth a read - it’s filled with great tips that are relevant for all kinds of teams and industries.
Tip #6: Publish a free tool
Building a free tool or resource that attracts your ICP can be a great way to generate fresh leads. The tool should show your branding in some way, but should be genuinely useful on its own. And of course it should have a means of collecting email addresses and other zero party data.
Ortto’s AI subject line writer is a one example of how this can be done. We took our AI subject line writer and open rate predictions tool outside of the product for leads to play around with. It’s a genuinely helpful tool that showcases the simplicity and power in our product.
Luke Miler has also seen success with this in the startups he’s involved with. He says, “Build and launch a small, free side project that can potentially reach to your ICP. Host it on a dedicated domain with a tag that says "Made by [your name]" linking to your business. Some great examples include directories.so, logofa.st or toggl.com/startup-simulator.”
Tip #7: Look at the data
Digging into the data can help you zero in on what’s working so you can double down on it.
Mark Voronov, Co-Founder & CEO of digital marketing agency SocialPlug, shared, “For B2B and SaaS, I first look at the data we have—things like how customers are behaving and which leads seem most promising. This helps me zero in on the people most likely to convert, so we don’t waste time and resources. I also find that offering different pricing options, like a basic plan and a premium one, can help attract more customers, making it easier for them to choose what works best for them.”
Tip #8: Dig into your LinkedIn networks
Every sales and marketing team member has a network on LinkedIn. When revenue is slow, digging into that network and doing some truly personal outreach can be fruitful.
Scott Gabdullin, CEO of Learo, a consultancy that specializes in generating leads for local businesses, says, “Tap into your sales team's personal LinkedIn networks. Share content that highlights your team's expertise and understanding of your customers' needs. This personal touch can reignite interest. To sustain lead generation, create valuable content that establishes you as an industry expert. This content can also be repurposed for SEO benefits.”
Tip #9: Collaborate with a partner
Partnering with a like-minded business can help you quickly unlock new leads in a cost-effective manner. Jeffrey Zhou has employed this tactic at Fig Loans, saying, “This can expand your reach and bring in new leads cost-effectively. For instance, partnering with a budgeting app allowed us to access a wider audience interested in financial wellness.”
Finding the right partner is key here — you want a business that is complementary but not competitive. You need to build a fair exchange and ensure that your cross-promotion is done in a way that doesn’t annoy your existing customer base. It’s all about balance!
Final word
Generating revenue has never been particularly easy, but today’s marketing and sales teams are faced with bigger and more complex challenges than ever before. Thankfully, you also have more resources, data, and readily available expert advice at your fingertips than ever before. Use it wisely and stay positive — the challenge is real, but the potential for both personal and business growth is too.
